


The Hunt Within

by HecatesKiss



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 04:45:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13000146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecatesKiss/pseuds/HecatesKiss
Summary: When Spectre's rot is found through the very heart of Six, a team is quietly put together to combat the problem that is announced with a murder-suicide.





	1. First Snow

The snow was soft, crisp and fresh. Q glanced down at his Union Jack clad converse feet and bounced slightly. What he wore was so not appropriate to the weather. He snuggled a bit into his long black coat and flicked the lighter once. The thin cigar lit and he inhaled cherry smoke. Far below him, London bustled along, oblivious to one man watching from the roof of MI6.

The Quartermaster turned when he heard the door creak. He smiled over his shoulder when James resolved in the low light.

"It's beautiful up here. First snow of the season." Q commented, flicking ash from the tip of the thin cigar even as snow dusted his wild curls.

"Mm." James agreed. Q turned when the man stepped up behind him. He smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to Bond's lips, knowing that here he could allow some of the stiff propriety to relax. There were no cameras on the roof that weren't in his personal control.

James kissed back, slow and sweet. Q smiled, traced his free hand over the faint blond stubble that clung to his lover's jaw and then turned back to look down on the city.

The shot was muffled by the suppressor and James hoped that Q never felt it. He stepped back as the body fell, crumpled in a black coat, blue eyes cold. He carefully stepped onto the cigar.  


Lifting a hand to his ear, he heard the new Q's voice.

"Status?"

"Terminated, Quartermistress." James responded before he tore out the earpiece, crushed it under his heel and calmly chambered another round as he sank to his knees. He then pulled the trigger for the last time.


	2. Toasts and Funerals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not drink!!

Marrakesh -- Morocco

Green eyes flicked down as his mobile buzzes, showing an incoming email. Subject line is simply "Reservation at Glencoe". 

Letting the screen go dark again, the man raked a hand through his chin length blond hair, sighed and got up from his table, leaving a coffee cooling behind him. He moved with a purposeful stride, headed back to the colourful hole in the wall that has his extra bag. He has a flight to catch, back to England. 

***  
Alec only sneered when he stepped into TSS and R rose to meet him. Her eyes were stormy as he dropped the pieces of equipment on the table, careless in handling of everything except for the gun. That, he field stripped and neatly set each bullet down, except the three he’d needed to drop the three targets he’d been assigned.

“Double oh Six? I am now your Quartermistress. I’m sorry for your loss.” The new Q said. Alec inclined his head, green eyes cold.

“He deserved better.” 

“I never expected Bond, of all people, to eat his own gun.” Her fingers traced lightly over the flash drive that sat on the tray, not meeting his eyes.

“Well, somebody had the fucking brilliant idea to have him murder his lover. It doesn’t entirely surprise me, R. For love? James would have done a bit. But Queen and Country asked for the ultimate price. You then expected him to brush it off and go on as usual?” The smile Alec gave was a few shades off sane. He laughed sharply once and then turned away.

“Double oh Six! I have yet to release you!”

“Cука? Fuck off. I’m burying my best mate today. I don’t care!” Alec snarled over his shoulder, stalking away, a wounded lethal predator gliding through a herd of sheep.

***  
Alec barely listens, head bowed in contemplation as he sits in the very back pew, ignoring the kneeler, shifting only slightly to keep an eye on the various other Double ohs scattered along the back pews. He moves with the congregation on auto-pilot, having done this enough with James to be able to follow, even while he occasionally ducks his head and uses the cuff of a pressed white shirt to wipe his eyes.

He lifts his head as the latin catches his attention, and he blinks once, sharply.

“Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine.” the priest intones.

Alec murmurs along with the rest, “Et lux perpetua luceat ei.”

He is only able to respond because he had supported James through the loss of his aunt, and has heard this before. He sucks in a breath as the priest continues, “Requiescat in pace.”

“Amen.”

The cathedral hushes and he glances to the side at the half-choked sob to his left. He knows M and Tanner and at least five of the nine active Double ohs are not in attendance. Nor are most of the heads of branches. He lets his gaze skirt to his left where Eve Moneypenny sits, teeth caught on her lower lip, dark eyes wet with tears. His handkerchief is clutched in her gloved fist.

He lays a hand on her shaking shoulder and tilts his head towards the doors. She nods and they rise together, him supporting her shivering frame as they slip out and then down the icy stairs, Alec leading them towards a waiting silver DB 10.

Alec opens the door for Moneypenny and then moves around to the driver’s side. He drives as she sobs, letting her tough exterior fall completely. Alec says nothing, merely allows her to cry, waiting it out until she takes a deep shuddering breath and shakes her head.

“I… I never expected… either of them to do such a thing.”

“James loved him.”

“But to kill him?!” 

“He also loved England.” Alec said, nodding to the glove box. He waited as she fished out another handkerchief and then repaired her makeup. He pulled the car into a narrow street and got out.

Escorting her to a specific door, he held it for her and let Moneypenny step first into the dim smokey interior of a Scottish Pub.

The first round, they toasted England. The second, they toasted the Queen. The third, they toasted lost loves. Alec smiled and then lifted a finger for a beer. The beer came with a napkin and a number tucked underneath it. Alec palmed the number, checked and then texted it two words.

>> Never Enough

He let the screen go dark and returned the mobile to his pocket.

Moneypenny is on her eighth shot and Alec is firmly aware of where the keys to the Aston are when a shadow falls over their table. Eve glances up and sucks in a sharp breath, whiskey going down the wrong pipe as she bends forward and starts coughing sharply.

Alec only nods to the seat across from him and the man settles in, plucking the shot from Eve’s fingers and knocking it smoothly back. He sets it down and squarely meets Alec’s eyes, a ghost of a smile touching his lips and lighting his hazel eyes.


End file.
